Traditionally beer, cider and other fermented beverages are served in public houses, bars, and restaurants directly from a keg connected to a tapping column by a dispense tube. Dispensing of the beverage is driven by a source of pressurized gas in fluid communication with the interior of the keg by means of a gas tube, such as to raise the pressure inside the keg above atmospheric pressure and at a level sufficient for driving the beverage from the keg up to the tapping column via the dispense tube. Beverage flow is controlled by a tapping valve located at the top portion of the column.
In traditional systems, beverage is contained in a keg, leaving an headspace above the liquid which is pressurized with gas, such as CO2. A hollow sword in fluid communication with the dispense tube and comprising an opening at the bottom thereof is immersed in the beverage to allow the liquid to flow out through the dispense tube and tapping valve when open. In this configuration, keg connectors comprising co-axial or adjacent gas and dispense tube connectors are generally used as disclosed e.g., in WO9407791, U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,475, or WO2008101503. A recurrent problem with such traditional kegs, is that since the pressurized gas contacts the beverage, some gas will dissolve into the beverage and affect the taste thereof. It follows that the taste of the beverage may vary from one dispensing to another depending on the pressure inside the keg and filling level of the liquid in the keg.
To avoid contact of the pressurizing gas with the beverage, bag-in-containers comprising an inner, collapsible bladder or bag containing the beverage to be dispensed, which is contained in an outer, more rigid container have been used. Recently, cost effective bag-in-containers have been developed allowing their extensive use in mass consumer goods such as beer kegs, cider kegs, and the like (cf. e.g., EP2146832, EP2148770, WO2010/031764, EP2152494, EP2152494, EP2152486, EP2152486, EP2148771).
Contrary to traditional kegs, the dispense tube and gas tube in bag-in-containers need be connected to separate parts of the keg, the former in fluid communication with the interior of the inner bladder, and the latter with the headspace between the bladder and the outer container. Note that the use of a dispense sword is not mandatory with bag-in-container types of kegs, contrary to conventional kegsTo this effect, bag-in-container type of kegs are usually provided with a closure comprising two separate openings: a dispense opening in contact with the interior of the inner bladder and a gas opening in contact with the headspace between inner bladder and outer container. Examples of closures suitable for bag-in-container types of kegs are disclosed in WO2009/090224, WO2009/090223, WO2012004223. It is clear that with such design the traditional keg connectors discussed above cannot be used. CA2012647 proposes a simple solution by providing a bung provided with two openings with corresponding valves and coupling means for independently coupling a dispense tube and a gas tube. For example, snap fit connections as disclosed in EP0905044 can be used as coupling means. This solution has the inconvenient that each tube must be connected one after the other which is long and tedious and the tubes could be coupled to the wrong opening.
To simplify the coupling operation, WO2011006212, EP0444596, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,699,298, 4,089,444, 3,905,522, 3,527,391, and 3,228,413 propose keg connectors comprising a clamp ring provided with an inner screw thread mating an external screw thread provided in the keg neck or closure. As the clamp ring is being screwed tight, the dispense tip and gas tip of parallel and separate dispense and gas connecting means are driven down through the dispense opening and gas opening provided in the keg closure. The problem with threaded clamp rings is that one is never sure whether the keg connector is fully coupled to the keg or not and also that, since the penetration of the dispense tip and gas tip through the originally sealed dispensing opening and gas opening may require some force, the required force is not always easy to provide by a screwing movement in a generally uncomfortable position. The maximum leverage afforded by a screw type clamp ring is limited to the size of grasp of a human hand, i.e., ca 10-15 cm) which is quite insufficient for the levels of forces required.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,927 discloses a keg connector suitable for bag-in-containers, comprising a latch member provided with a handle allowing the keg connector to be coupled to the container. Once the keg connector is firmly coupled to the keg, the tips of dispense and gas connecting means are pressed down by hand to pierce corresponding sealed openings. Although the handle gives leverage which facilitates coupling of the connector, the manual pressing down of the dispense and gas connecting means remains uncomfortable.
The present invention provides a keg connector particularly suitable for bag-in-container types of kegs, which can be coupled very easily to such kegs. This and other advantages of the present invention are presented in continuation.